PlayStation.Blog

Ragnarok Odyssey: Giant-Sized RPG Assaults PS Vita Today

Are you ready, guys? Because right now it’s Ragnarok Odyssey happy hour! Or more like Happy Day, since today we celebrate the release of our precious PS Vita title. It’s been a lengthy localization journey, but we’re proud to bring out the Ragnarok Odyssey Standard Edition for $39.99, as well as the Mercenary Edition, which includes a meaty monster guide with artwork, a full soundtrack, and 10 randomized collectable monster cards out of over 50 for $49.99.

The game itself is the real star of the show, though. Think of it kind of like Monster Hunter or Gods Eater, but with more of a Norse mythology twist and a battle system that’s all about knocking your enemies high into the air, then flying up after them and flinging them all over creation before slamming them back down into the hard dirt below. It’s a great game to pick up and play anytime, as you can just grab a quest and head out to go attack all manner of creatures and loot lots of goodies off their hacked-up remains. And if you don’t want to go it alone, you can always bring three friends with you through ad-hoc or infrastructure multiplayer – which might be a huge help when you face off against some of this game’s mammoth bosses, who can be hundreds of times bigger than you are.

And since this is basically a really cool party, I’ll be talking about those multiplayer features here today. While we weren’t able to play together too often (naturally, we’d get far too distracted trying to get our characters to properly high-five each other), the times we did play it in the office left us in fits of giggles and a welling flame of camaraderie for taking down big dudes. Because some of the dudes you fight are… well, really big and stuff.

The maps of multiplayer are the same exact maps used in the single-player campaign, and while single player is accessed through the local Guild, multiplayer is accessed through a nearby tavern. So what’s the difference, exactly? Difficulty. Multiplayer is much more difficult in comparison, and will reward players who take it on with better items which you can use to create new clothing, weapons, or just sell for some extra cash. Luckily, this difficulty isn’t closed to those who are venturing solo and want the extra challenge – single players only need to enter the tavern alone to progress through the game with a higher difficulty (y’all are crazy, though, for real).

So can a brand new player instantly be fighting on one of the last maps in the game if one of their partners is farther ahead? The answer to that is no. If you have two, three, four people in multiplayer, the quests available for your team to choose from will be decided based on the ‘youngest’ player. This means that if you have three players who are at Chapter 5, and one on Chapter 3, you’ll only be given quests up to Chapter 3. Help that last guy conquer a few familiar foes, though, and you’ll be taking on later chapters together as a team in no time.

The game has a few multiplayer friendly in-game features, too. While you can’t use voice chat, there are a flurry of emoticons and silly to serious body language options to choose from to let your comrades know how you’re feeling. There are also equippable cards that are friendly to playing with others, too, such as a card that spreads certain leftover stats to your allies should you fall in battle, or a card that helps loot gravitate more to you than others (because if sharing was caring, things wouldn’t be as fun, though some drop items are split amongst the party).
Oh yeah, and so long as someone has a North American copy of the game, you can play with them, meaning don’t sweat having everyone play in the same room to enjoy some monster hunting. It’s all online, baby!

So be nice, have fun, and do your best on conquering the toughest Giants the Sundered Lands have to offer!

Just for clarification I preordered Ragnarok Odyssee (not the CE) for in-store pick up at my local gamestop and they have my copy available for me to pick up after work today! I am very pleased and excited to play! :-)

I have to say I have been looking forward to this game for a LONG time. I almost imported it but decided to wait because I wanted to understand and enjoy everything in it. My copy is JUST now shipping from Amazon (Mercenary edition)…. its killing me to wait.. but I know the wait will be worth it. Is there going to be DLC for this game.. and if so, what kind of DLC.

Thank you so much for Ragnarok Odyssey, atm I gotta wait nearly a week for my mercenary edition to arrive cause of amazon free shipping :/ but I can wait cause its worth it. I heard 3 tracks from the OST on destructoid and loved it, am looking forward to listen to the rest of the songs :)

I was a big MH fan but with the way Capcom is releasing the next MH games on the 3ds and WIi U my love for that series has burnt out. Until they actually decide to bring a proper new MH game (not a dumb HD port) to the Vita or PS3, MH is dead to me lol.

@NovaChronicle
Same feeling for me and MH, Crapcom and it´s exclusivity for Ninty sucks, a portable MH has to be played on a Sony Handheld, and I´m still waiting for a MH for PS3 (HD remake doesn´t count)

Pre-ordered the Mercenary Edition from Amazon. Just received word that the “shipment” has been “received by the carrier”. Now if only DHL could hurry up and send it over…I can’t wait until Monday (their delivery estimate)…well, I can since I don’t really have a choice…

Anyways, pretty excited to play this game. This is going to be the game of the month for me for my Vita (since I chose this over AC3 which I hope my dad will eventually buy, XD) so thank you very much XSeed for this! :D

Same question as EvRy1nVzZ.. I’ve been playing the imported English Asian version for months. Can I play with friends who will be purchasing the NA version? Or do I have to buy this game (again) or convince them to buy the asian version so we could play together?

Sony really needs to added more demos for PS Vita! LIke, I know theres a demo for this game in the japanese psn store. Why theres no demo for us? I really like to try the before buying it. And since its a $40 game it woulb be really good. Like, why such big and important game like assassins creed liberation dont have a demo? Thats really wierd. An like me, will make a lot of peopple dont buy the game.

IM not so much trying to bash the game, I just want to warn the people (like me) who have been waiting since February 23rd for this game. Your 40 dollars will be better spent on AC3. I picked this game up on tuesday and at first I was so hyped on it, but two days and two chapter later, I feel completely burned(as usual).

I love this game. I love the style, I love the action. I am glad I picked this over AC3: Liberations and NFS: MW

Thank you Xseed for such an awesome game on the Vita!

Also @aaronmafia, I truly feel if you judge most your opinion off IGN’s review your opinion must be just a shallow as the guy who wrote that horrible review. Reviews aren’t supposed to be subjective opinions, they are supposed to be reviews.

Something that tells you the bad and good about a game not your own personal biased opinion, if I wanted to listen to a personal opinion I could sit at the counter of Gamestop and listen to the person behind it yap on about what he thinks.

I really feel journalist have lost touch with what a review really is, let alone what review actually means. IGN has hit a new low with that review and I could explain why for many reasons. I’ll just say IGN is by far the worst site when it comes to any reviews that actually make sense.

I imported the Japanese version and played the heck outta it, then the online functionality stopped working after an update so I was forced to selling it back and playing the JPN Demo for ages.
Now I pre-order the Mercenary Edition and receive not only a full English copy but also cards, a soundtrack and a strategy guide/art book.

I am fulfilled.

Loving the game so far, currently all the way in Chapter 9 and I plan to go through the Story with 4 more characters and play til it hurts, I am still excited as when I first got the game.